Picking up the pieces after last year is quite similar to Frankenstein putting his monster together and screaming “It’s alive!”. Right now, it really is about the ‘(a)live’ experience. And, not to say that the new face of hospitality and travel will be monstrous in any way but it will certainly be different. Plus, I don’t know where you stand in the whole Frankenstein monster topic, but I am actually a big fan of the poor fellow. Very good guy. Very feared though – similar to our post-pandemic industry in a way, if I may stretch my own analogy.
Guests are hard to come by these days; loyal guests – even harder. The good news is that there are ways to ease their fears and nurture loyalty and trust, even in the midst of challenging times. With the right mix of emotion and technology, travelers can enjoy their hotel stay once more and come back to the one that makes them feel safe, reassured, and valued. It all starts with honest, live communication that faces the current monstrosities of life head-on and creates unforgettable experiences.
Here are some important things to consider when focusing on real-time communication and on-site feedback and how they can organically lead to loyalty:
Guests need their issues and concerns to be addressed. Not later, not the next time, but now.
Traveling in the current context is tricky. Everyone wants to do it but we’re all a bit scared, we all have a lot of questions in the back of our minds. That adds to our stress and anxiety levels. The matter of safety while traveling is bound to stay under a heavy question mark for at least some months to come. With every new destination and every new hotel or accommodation we book, those concerns arise once more. The need for safety and stability is now more poignant than ever and this is exactly why hotels that manage to ensure trust and create an honest, open connection with their guests, have higher chances of greeting them again.
Make sure that the hotel staff is always available to answer questions, take requests, and solve issues in a timely manner, in order to avoid problems that might escalate into negative impressions and post-stay reviews. On-site communication is the best tool to keep in touch with guests and create a safe environment in which they can open up and have their concerns addressed. This shows them that you care about their wellbeing and you prioritize it above anything else.
Guests want their voices to be heard and their feedback to be valued.
No one willingly goes back to a place where they didn’t feel heard or valued, especially when we’re talking about vacations or leisure trips. Using live engagement tools ensures that your guests have the fastest, most effective, and contactless means of communication and that you are taking the proper steps to enhance their voices. On-site feedback can be extremely valuable when leveraged in the right way. Make sure to be constant in your communications with guests and to genuinely inquire about their thoughts and opinions on different topics. How did they like their breakfast or the spa services or how would they rate the friendliness of the staff? It’s the little things and impressions that arise throughout their stay the ones that add up and can make or break the overall experience.
When you show genuine care for your guests’ on-site experience, you are telling them that you are there for them and that you are always open to suggestions and ideas for improvement.
Open and honest communication leads to trust and trust is the first and most important step towards loyalty.
Trust is a fragile thing. It can take a long time to build and just a few seconds to break. We, at TrustYou, believe that trust is at the very core of guest loyalty. If you think about it, loyalty, in general, is very closely linked to the faith and trust that we put in others. When we travel, we rely on the hotel of our choice to keep us safe, to make us feel welcome, to meet our needs and expectations. When all the boxes are checked, we end our stay with a smile and we think about repeating the experience.
Live engagement is only one part of ensuring a great hotel experience, but it is one that has a high potential for not only nurturing trust but also of building a hotel-guest relationship that is based on honesty, respect, and actionable insights. By constantly communicating with your guests, you are showing them how determined you are to make their stay an excellent one. This is not to say that issues won’t arise. It happens to the very best. However, when you have the means to acknowledge and fix those issues on the spot, you emphasize the human side of this business; and this is exactly what pandemic travelers are looking for.
Keep communicating with your guests open via digital channels and create fearless experiences that celebrate being alive and keep the monsters out of their minds.
By leveraging the exclusive TrustYou Live Experience, you can now enable the seamless flow of communications between guests and staff and ensure that common detractors are quickly turned into promoters – in a nutshell, let on-site feedback pave the way for improved operations, better satisfaction scores, more revenue, and more loyal guests. Through the Live Experience solution, both hoteliers and guests can explore the true meaning of real-time and contactless engagement. You can read more about the TrustYou Live Experience solution here and please feel free to get in touch with our team of experts at any time! We are here to ensure that you have the best possible means of building trust and loyalty.